Alderney CEO ‘pay is not far short of the Prime Minister’s’

Current incumbent Andrew Muter announced his resignation from the job earlier this month after two years in office.

He has not yet said what fuelled his decision to leave, which comes three years short of his five-year contract.

Mr Muter will leave in August, giving the States six months to find a new person for the post.

Several States members have expressed a desire for a less wide-ranging job description, a slimmed down civil service and a more island-focused mindset.

The Chamber of Commerce has implored those charged with recruitment to bring in someone from industry, rather than a career civil servant.

The CEO post is believed to have a salary of more than £120,000, with a heavily subsidised States-owned house attached. The post holder will be running a civil servant staff of about 70, including the Water Board.

Alderney States member Steve Roberts said the current regime was too costly and operated largely behind closed doors.

‘The CEO post pay is not far short of a Boris Johnson salary, which for an island the size of Alderney is wasteful,’ he said.

‘It gives the impression that you’re running a grandiose town council rather than a tiny island, which is not the attitude we need.

‘The next six months gives us a golden opportunity to review our civil service – what we require from that body – and perhaps tailor our needs to suit our cloth, reverting back to a lower grading of our top post.

‘The current CEO is very able and very qualified – perhaps over-qualified for such a small place.

‘When the top civil servant was the clerk of the States – hired to help us deliver what the public wanted us to do – it ran very efficiently.

‘The current civil service has become, to my mind, politically too powerful, and in conjunction with other leading figures, will damage Alderney if we let it continue.’

Louis Jean said States members should be given the opportunity to help craft the job description of the new CEO.

In recent years the States have secured the services of a head-hunting firm and the chairman of Policy and Finance Committee, General Services and BDCC on the interviewing panel.

He pointed out that while Guernsey was looking to shed some 200 civil service roles, Alderney was actively in the process of swelling its administration.

‘Since the upgrade from clerk of the states we’ve seen a stream of CEOs come and go without doing their five-year contract,’ he said.

‘Why? The job title isn’t clear as to what is required in supporting the States of Alderney. Alderney is very different to a UK county council where civil servants are tucked away in large officers, behind a desk and a computer. Maybe the job description could be debated rather than us making the same mistakes and costing us heavily in the long term.’

The Chamber of Commerce would like the next CEO recruited from the private sector.

Alderney Chamber of Commerce president Andrew Eggleston said: ‘Last time and behind the time last couple of times we asked that someone from industry be recruited, rather than a career civil servant, who would look at Alderney as Alderney PLC.

‘We need responsibility, accountability and leadership and we do think that has been lacking in our government set up.

‘We have had policies and talk but when you ask anyone in government about has been done you find we have no tourism strategy, no economic strategy and no transport strategy.

‘They are the building blocks for our future.’

Alderney’s Policy and Finance chairman James Dent said the island needed a skilful CEO and a larger civil service – particularly middle management.

‘We need a civil service that has the resources to deal with the business that SMs put their way.

‘We need person or persons at the top who can give good strategic advice, otherwise we will lose out in any negotiations with the likes of Guernsey.’